Stormy Wetterhorn (REPOST)

Gallery: LandscapePosted February 11, 2011446 views24 comments

I took this back in July, while backpacking in the Uncompahgre Mountains. I was pretty psyched when I found this extensive field of Sneezeweed and Rosy Paintbrush up in the basin. I set up my camp nearby, and hung out in my tiny little tent for two hours of pretty intense monsoon rain and some lightning strikes that were a little bit too close for comfort. That's part of the fun though, right? You gotta love monsoon thunderstorms in the Rockies! As the storms subsided, a clear spot appeared along the western horizon, and I was treated to this great light.

D3, 15mm, no filters
4/5 sec at f/22, ISO 200

Comments and critiques are appreciated and welcome, as always.

Thanks for looking!

Comments

24 comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on February 11, 2011 at 4:24 PM

Very nice image. Great depth to the image. If it were mine I might lighten it up a little.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Art Escobado on February 11, 2011 at 4:29 PM

Love that Colorado action - it's a very nice moment captured on film. Can we get it brighter?

Registered on January 7, 2007, 0 Posts, 775 Comments

Comment posted by Jake Case on February 11, 2011 at 4:46 PM

Definitely a magic moment you captured here! The processing is well done, the flowers pop nicely. I agree it looks a little dark, but mostly in the sky and ridge in the back that is receiving direct sunlight, the flowers look perfect. My only other nit would be the comp, which think is bordering on 50/50, mainly with the shadow line at the bottom of the ridge. The rainbow is framed perfectly, so I think it could use more flowers at the bottom, can never have too many flowers, which would require a wider lens. You obviously can't do anything about it now, and I imagine you were as wide as your setup allows anyway. Likewise, definitely a great scene and a "keeper" too

EDIT: Oh yeah, there's some sort of black blob in the sky that could use a clone-out

Registered on December 13, 2010, 38 Posts, 167 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Stough on February 11, 2011 at 4:50 PM

Wonderful shot Alex. A real work of art. I think the exposure is just fine for that light.

Registered on November 20, 2010, 26 Posts, 273 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on February 11, 2011 at 6:01 PM

Oh yea, this is looking a lot better than the original processing job! Great composition with the rainbow over the peak. It is a bit dark, but the relative contrasts look nice, so maybe a little brighter overall? On the web/monitor it looks great, but as a print I think it might come off as a little dark. There's also a big dirt spec.. or is that a bird?

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Harding on February 11, 2011 at 6:29 PM

This is a great shot Alex, If it was my image I would burn in a little at the top middle of the rainbow and then select the shadow area only with polygonal Lasso and then lighten the foreground an little using curves.
This is in PS CS4.

Registered on January 19, 2011, 33 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by richard remington on February 11, 2011 at 7:39 PM

Alex,

Really awesome colors in this shot.

Rick

Registered on March 12, 2010, 105 Posts, 368 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on February 11, 2011 at 11:03 PM

Wow, terrific shot Alex, and quite an experience. The FG does appear a tad dark overall, I might brighten it up a little.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on February 11, 2011 at 11:14 PM

Spectacular conditions, awesome shot Alex. I too think it could be lighten up a bit, at least for print. Fantastic work bro!

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by Vance Gese on February 12, 2011 at 12:10 AM

Spectacular, Alex. The light on the mountains and those flowers make this really incredible. Nice reminder that spring is just around the corner.

Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments

Comment posted by Kory Lidstrom on February 12, 2011 at 12:51 AM

Very nice! I might crop a bit off the right so that the rainbow is more centered.

Registered on November 19, 2008, 49 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Raymond D Smith on February 12, 2011 at 11:12 AM

Beautiful Alex just beautiful, must have been a tremendous sight. I could see adding a touch more exposure to the foreground. Not sure, is that a halo on the right side above the mountain. I think the comp is perfect you got in the right amount of foreground to compliment the rainbow and the mountain. Cheers

Registered on January 22, 2009, 12 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Joshua Hardin on February 12, 2011 at 12:06 PM

I know this location well. You definitely found some nice conditions there. I would maybe brighten the foreground flowers just a bit more but the mountains and clouds look good to me. Nicely done.

Registered on July 29, 2006, 40 Posts, 414 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on February 12, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Beautiful, Alex. Must have been awesome to be there for this. I agree maybe just a bit brighter. What a view and sight!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Alex Mody on February 12, 2011 at 2:32 PM

Thank you all for the comments and critiques so far. I can't believe I did not notice those bird blobs in the sky! They always seem to get away from me...

Anyway, here's a repost with some of the comments taken into consideration. I like dark processing when the light is dramatic, but I overdid it a bit with the foreground flowers. So, I brightened those up, and removed those bird blobs (that was not a good day to be my sensor!)

Registered on December 25, 2007, 163 Posts, 1896 Comments

Comment posted by Tyson Fisher on February 12, 2011 at 5:35 PM

Love this one! You caught some great light, and found a fabulous display of wildflowers to go with it. Nice work!

Registered on September 17, 2008, 44 Posts, 623 Comments

Comment posted by Andrius Pašukonis on February 12, 2011 at 7:05 PM

simply spectacular

Registered on July 23, 2005, 111 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by dean hebert on February 12, 2011 at 7:20 PM

Great scene and colours!

Registered on August 4, 2010, 70 Posts, 1132 Comments

Comment posted by Walt Sterneman on February 12, 2011 at 7:53 PM

Beautiful comp with the flowers and color in the FG.

Registered on March 24, 2010, 73 Posts, 1268 Comments

Comment posted by Jimmy Gekas on February 12, 2011 at 9:28 PM

Killer location, amazing light and gorgeous foreground. Oh, yeah, and a rainbow on top of all that? Sweet, sweet image.

Registered on July 26, 2007, 244 Posts, 2807 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on February 12, 2011 at 9:28 PM

A very nice shot Alex!

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Andrew Morrill on February 13, 2011 at 6:02 PM

It's always exciting to be in an alpine area during a lighting storm! I think I agree about the brightness - good luck.

Registered on June 10, 2010, 51 Posts, 216 Comments

Comment posted by Rodrigo Sandoval on February 14, 2011 at 2:13 PM

The composition is just perfect and it really amazed me there were no filters involved. In particular I would've added a GND to bring the light up in the flowers a bit, but you definitely got a wonderful results, especially in the second version (repost). Congratulations!

Registered on April 4, 2009, 13 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by Alex Mody on February 14, 2011 at 4:44 PM

Thanks Rodrigo. I suppose what I should have mentioned is that I double processed and blended the raw file, once for the fg-mg, and one for the sky.

Registered on December 25, 2007, 163 Posts, 1896 Comments